Colson Montgomery’s season has already earned him a place in the record book for all the wrong reasons, but the Chicago White Sox shortstop also spent enough of the year carrying the lineup to keep his story from fitting neatly into one lane.
Montgomery finished with 227 strikeouts in 638 plate appearances, breaking Mark Reynolds’ 2009 mark of 223 and becoming MLB’s single-season strikeout leader. At the same time, he was one of the biggest reasons the White Sox are headed to the Wild Card round. Chicago scored 776 runs, the most in the American League and second-most in MLB, and Montgomery played a major part in that output with 87 RBIs, 71 runs scored and 31 home runs.
That power came with a steep cost. Montgomery closed the regular season with a .685 OPS, and among the 1,408 players in MLB history to hit at least 30 home runs in a season, his 2026 OPS ranks 1,407th. Only one season in that group finished lower.
The collapse in production was especially sharp after a strong start. Through his first 31 games, Montgomery had the fifth-highest WAR among shortstops.
Over his final 62 games, though, he hit .163/.253/.304 with eight home runs, 34 RBIs and 106 strikeouts. September was even rougher: .099/.215/.210 with two home runs, 10 RBIs and 42 strikeouts.
That slump helped the White Sox lose ground in the division and finish one game short of the No. 2 seed in the American League and a first-round bye. Still, Montgomery wasn’t just a drag on the offense. His glove remained a real asset at shortstop, with a Fielding Run Value in MLB’s 93rd percentile and 13 Outs Above Average, which ranked in the top 3% of the league.
The bat, though, was the issue that defined the year. Montgomery finished with a .197 average, .282 OBP and a 35.6% strikeout rate, the highest in MLB.
He walked in just 8% of his plate appearances, and his chase rate and in-zone contact rate both sat well below league average. He also got himself into trouble early in counts, swinging at the first pitch 14% more often than the MLB average.
That profile is part of why Montgomery’s season stands out so much. Plenty of power hitters live with strikeouts in today’s game, but the best of them usually make up for it by getting on base.
Montgomery didn’t. Even though he still showed big-time bat speed and a strong barrel rate when he connected, he simply didn’t make enough contact.
The damage was even harder to absorb with runners in scoring position. Montgomery hit just .169 in those spots and struck out 77 times, which made it tough for Chicago to count on him in the moments that mattered most.
There were still signs of what made the White Sox believe in him in the first place. Montgomery has always had the ability to pull the ball in the air, and his 27.2% pull rate on airborne contact was among the highest in baseball. But as pitchers adjusted, he had trouble answering back.
Now the season turns to October, where one hot stretch could change the entire tone of the conversation around him. Chicago will need that version of Montgomery if it wants to make a real run.
The bigger question is what comes after that. The White Sox have a crowded infield picture taking shape, with Roch Cholowsky and Caleb Bonemer waiting in the wings, Sam Antonacci not looking like a long-term fit in left field, Chase Meidroth looking like the real thing at second base and Miguel Vargas emerging as one of the game’s best third basemen. That leaves Montgomery in a position that is both valuable and uncertain.
Herb Brooks famously said, “Great moments are born from great opportunity.” Montgomery has one now, and the White Sox are hoping it brings back the version of him they saw as a cornerstone.
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